In official records, few clues about murder case

Published: Monday, July 15, 2013 at 6:38 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, July 15, 2013 at 6:38 p.m.

Manuel "Sonny" Amaral didn't seem to mingle much with people. In fact, he was dead for three weeks in his mobile home and no one reported him missing.

The body wasn't discovered until his self-described girlfriend, Kimberly Jean Collins, 53, broke down and admitted to authorities that she stabbed the 77-year-old man three times in the back. She said she snapped when he yelled at her for turning on the air conditioner.

Collins, who divulged her secret to Oklahoma City Police on Saturday night, said she had journals detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of Amaral. A check of Marion County Sheriff's Office records on Monday showed no domestic disturbance calls made from the property.

The address, 304 SW 172nd St., shows up four times, including Saturday's call from Oklahoma requesting a well-being check on Amaral. The other calls were for civil matters, said Judge Cochran, sheriff's spokesman.

Amaral owned the nearly nine-acre property he lived on since 1981, according to Marion County property records.

He was married, but divorced in 2003. His ex-wife could not be reached, nor could any other relatives.

A worker at a nearby Paso Fino horse farm said she would see Amaral from time to time but never talked to him.

"I didn't really take notice of not seeing him. We come here and feed the horses. He kept to himself. He would drive by on his way to his house," said the woman, who only gave her name as Jenny.

Amaral's home is set far back off the road at the furthest point of the property. On Monday, an orange gate blocked a narrow road leading back to the house, which was not visible from the gate.

The main structure is a 773-square-foot single-wide mobile home, but additions were made to the structure through the years, property appraiser records show.

Except for a driving under the influence conviction in 2001, Amaral had no other arrests in Marion County.

Collins was arrested in 2012 after she reportedly took some property from a man after he did not give her a ride back home. The charges were eventually dropped.

After giving Oklahoma authorities a brief description of the stabbing, Collins, who said she hitchhiked to Oklahoma after the stabbing, asked for a lawyer and stopped talking to detectives.

She was being held at the Oklahoma City Jail on a Marion County warrant for second-degree murder and will be brought back to Florida to face the charges.

At his home on Saturday, authorities found Amaral with a knife in his back. He was found in the bedroom of the home under clothes and a blanket. He was in an advanced state of decomposition.

<p>Manuel "Sonny" Amaral didn't seem to mingle much with people. In fact, he was dead for three weeks in his mobile home and no one reported him missing.</p><p>The body wasn't discovered until his self-described girlfriend, Kimberly Jean Collins, 53, broke down and admitted to authorities that she stabbed the 77-year-old man three times in the back. She said she snapped when he yelled at her for turning on the air conditioner.</p><p>Collins, who divulged her secret to Oklahoma City Police on Saturday night, said she had journals detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of Amaral. A check of Marion County Sheriff's Office records on Monday showed no domestic disturbance calls made from the property.</p><p>The address, 304 SW 172nd St., shows up four times, including Saturday's call from Oklahoma requesting a well-being check on Amaral. The other calls were for civil matters, said Judge Cochran, sheriff's spokesman.</p><p>Amaral owned the nearly nine-acre property he lived on since 1981, according to Marion County property records.</p><p>He was married, but divorced in 2003. His ex-wife could not be reached, nor could any other relatives.</p><p>A worker at a nearby Paso Fino horse farm said she would see Amaral from time to time but never talked to him.</p><p>"I didn't really take notice of not seeing him. We come here and feed the horses. He kept to himself. He would drive by on his way to his house," said the woman, who only gave her name as Jenny.</p><p>Amaral's home is set far back off the road at the furthest point of the property. On Monday, an orange gate blocked a narrow road leading back to the house, which was not visible from the gate.</p><p>The main structure is a 773-square-foot single-wide mobile home, but additions were made to the structure through the years, property appraiser records show.</p><p>Except for a driving under the influence conviction in 2001, Amaral had no other arrests in Marion County.</p><p>Collins was arrested in 2012 after she reportedly took some property from a man after he did not give her a ride back home. The charges were eventually dropped.</p><p>After giving Oklahoma authorities a brief description of the stabbing, Collins, who said she hitchhiked to Oklahoma after the stabbing, asked for a lawyer and stopped talking to detectives.</p><p>She was being held at the Oklahoma City Jail on a Marion County warrant for second-degree murder and will be brought back to Florida to face the charges.</p><p>At his home on Saturday, authorities found Amaral with a knife in his back. He was found in the bedroom of the home under clothes and a blanket. He was in an advanced state of decomposition.</p>